Sport News

As we come to the end of Term 1 sport, it is important that all boys maintain high standards of performance and sportsmanship.

Our 1st VI Volleyball continued their undefeated season with a good win in 4 sets over Iona. We are competing strongly for an overall aggregate win in our Volleyball but will have to perform strongly across all age groups over the next two weeks to ensure this happens. Our cricket teams had a few disappointing results against Iona College and will have to excel in the next two weeks of competition if we are to reclaim the overall cricket aggregate. Our 1st XVIII AFL team had back to back wins on Friday night in front of a parochial crowd at Iona; coach Darian Johns has been particularly impressed with the improvement the team has displayed over the past fortnight.    

Term 1 sport remains our priority – with only two weeks of competition and training remaining, we must maintain our commitments to Term 1 sport. Boys should only attend Cross-Country, Rugby and Football training if it does not affect their Term 1 commitments. Any boys who missed the online registration for Term 2 sports must manually register their name on the Gym Foyer sheets during break time by Wednesday. 

Last Friday, our swimming team represented the College at the AIC Swimming Championships. Overall results and coordinator report will appear at the end of the newsletter. Congratulations to team Captains Jack Goyen, Matthew Magnussen and Vice-Captains Jack L’Enfant and Noah Wright, who led the team with great pride and inspired our junior swimmers. 

We acknowledge Head Coach James Boyce, who continues to manage not only our school program but the College club program, a pool full of swimmers every afternoon and morning. James was supported in his role by Damian Bromley, and together they have formed a strong coaching partnership, as evidenced by our performance last Friday. 

We also thank Cath Geraghty for her exceptional management of the team as Swimming Coordinator. Cath continues to spend an astounding amount of her time organising the swimming program to ensure all swimmers and parents are well-informed and prepared for their season. Finally, thanks to coaches Peta Earley, Catherine Barnett, Lucy Hislop, David Meehan, Roxanne Rosenberg, Catherine Kidd, Anntoinette Restell, Julia Wilken, Hunter Dreghorn and Joshua Small for their ability to manage the largest AIC swimming program and achieve such great success on many levels. Well done team!

Last Tuesday, we had our House Swimming Carnival for Year 7, 8, 11 and 12. Unfortunately, the Year 9 and 10 carnival was cancelled due to the weather, but Tuesday was the perfect day to enjoy being down at the pool. Congratulations to the Ridley, who were crowned 2021 House Swimming Champions. 

1st Volleyball Livestream link for this Saturday - https://youtu.be/NNcOFF3TRKQ

Individual Achievements

Ziggy Day has been awarded a School Student Scholarship, recognising the work of promising school-aged rugby match officials. The program enables up and coming match officials to work alongside the Rugby Australia community and high-performance staff. This will help Ziggy with a smooth transition from junior to senior rugby while also identifying his ability and exposing him to a higher level of rugby. An outstanding achievement for Ziggy, who is an up and coming rugby referee. Several previous participants of the Scholarship program have become members of Rugby Australia’s national match official panel, including Angus Gardner and Amy Perrett.

Jackson Grounds has been named in the Baseball Australia National Junior Squad. The squad will take part in a camp at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra from April 3-11 as part of Boral Team Australia’s preparations for the 2021 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup in Florida. Players were selected following the National Showcase Series events around the country earlier this year. The press release is here: https://bit.ly/3pNgMlX

Sam Wilcox has been selected in the Queensland U/14 Boys Softball Squad that is competing in Lismore during the Easter holidays. This team was selected from performances at the Queensland U/14 Boys Softball State Titles, run by Softball Queensland, that was held at the end of last year. 

2021 AIC Swimming

In the lead up to the AIC Swimming Championships, the College Age Swimming Championships were keenly contested on Tuesday, 16 February.  The results are shown in the table below, along with the winners of the Commitment and Dedication Award for each age group.

The AIC Swimming Championships were swum last Friday, with the Marist team turning in outstanding performances to come second in both the Primary Aggregate (by just 11 points) and the Secondary Aggregate (by 16 points). Congratulations to St Peter’s Lutheran College (Secondary Champions) and Villanova College (Primary Champions). The championships were swum in a spirit of sportsmanship, but with a much quieter stadium, due to a COVID ban on student spectators. The Marist parents, however, were big in numbers and big on noise. 

A measure of the depth of our secondary swimming program can be seen from several statistics:

• While we were just 16 points behind St Peter’s, we were clear of Iona College in third place by a massive 177.5 points.
• If you study the age-group results tables in Luke Caplick’s report, you will notice that we placed either first or second in five of the six age groups.
• Ashgrove placed either first or second in six of the eight medley relays.
• Of 16 freestyle relays, Ashgrove gained seven first places and 7-second places.

Marist swimmers broke 10 AIC records on Friday: 

• Orlando Leavy, Riley Leeper, Jack L’Enfant and Josh Casey – Open, 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay Div. 2 (1:39.70) This was also a Marist College Ashgrove Record.
• Bailey Skinner, Jack Barton, Alex Pedroni and Andrew Crook – 16 Years, 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay Div. 2 (1:44.48) This was also a Marist College Ashgrove Record.
• Thomas Hicks – 15 Years, 50m Backstroke Div. 2 (29.21)
• Tadhg Ryan, Taj Cook, Nick De Araujo and Max Russo – 13 Years, 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay Div. 2 (2:00.63) This was also a Marist College Ashgrove Record.
• Nick Osborne – Year 5, 100m Freestyle (1:08.42)
• Nick Osborne – Year 5, 50m Breaststroke Div. 2 (43.39)
• Tex Higginbotham – Year 5, 50m Freestyle Div. 1 (31.98)
• Tex Higginbotham – Year 5, 50m Backstroke Div. 1 (36.67)
• Tom Novak, Tex Higginbotham, Nick Osborn and Zaiden Cook – Year 5, 4 x 50m Medley Relay. (2:30.46) This was also a Marist College Ashgrove Record. 
• Nick Osborn, Zaiden Cook, Tom Novak and Tex Higginbotham – Year 5, 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay Div. 1 (2:13 39) This was also a Marist College Ashgrove Record

Another four Marist College Ashgrove record were also broken:

• Matthew Magnussen – Open 100m Backstroke (57.78)
• Jack Goyen – Open 50m Freestyle (23.23)
• Hayden Barnes, Thomas Hicks, Noah Coco and Matthew O’Keeffe – 15 Years 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay Div. 1 (1:42.67)
• Ryan O’Toole, Archer Mellifont, Josh Mason and Isaac Farrelly – 13 Years, 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay Div. 1 (1:52.78)

We could not have asked any more of our boys on Friday. While the statistics on personal bests have not yet been calculated, we had swimmer after swimmer slicing chunks off their PBs. The team was led admirably by our captains Matthew Magnussen and Jack Goyen, and vice-captains Noah Wright and Jack L’Enfant. Together with their Year 12 team-mates, these young men led by example, giving their all in the water and encouraging each and every member of the team to do the same. 

At the annual Swimming Presentation Night following the Championships, the major swimming awards were presented to the following athletes:

Special Awards

Junior Swimmer of the Year

• James Leigh

Senior Swimmer of the Year

• Matthew Magnussen and Jack Goyen (Congratulations to both these swimmers, who have qualified for the 2021 Olympic trials, which in itself must be a Marist College Ashgrove record.)

Determination and Commitment Award

• Angus Bathe

Grace Under Pressure, the Heather Spencer Memorial Award

• Matthew Magnussen and Jack Goyen

Swimmers who have completed over 100 training sessions

• Jack Goyen, Reilly Culic, Hugh Gibson, Oliver King, Will Walker, Ben Warren, Hayden Barnes, Thomas Harney, Thomas Hicks, Nicholas Marco, Matthew O’Keeffe, Darcey Salter, Bailey Skinner, Lachlan Harney, Lachlan Vink, Ed Wild, Ryan O’Toole

As mentioned by Luke Caplick, many thanks are due to the Marist coaching staff for their tireless efforts with the swimming program.  From early morning training to afternoon training, Friday night meets, swimming camps and weekend training, these people have given very generously of their time, their expertise and their spirit over two terms and, for some, the Christmas holidays. The support and help of our Head of Sport, Luke Caplick and Head of Primary Sport, John Lambourne (who was beyond generous with his time in attending both the Primary and the Secondary Swim Camps), has been very much valued and appreciated.

Marist College Ashgrove AIC Swimming continues to go from strength to strength with a spirit and culture the envy of many within and outside the College.  Congratulations to our swimmers – yet again, you have trained and raced with integrity, grit and honour.  We are so very proud of you all.

Cath Geraghty - Swimming Co-ordinator

AIC Swimming 2021 - Aggregate & Age Group Scores

YEAR 5      

YEAR 6      

YEAR 5 & 6 AGGREGATE

12 YEARS 

13 YEARS 

14 YEARS 

15 YEARS 

16 YEARS 

OPEN

SWIM AGGREGATE 2021

AFL

Interview with 1st XVIII with Tom Pfitzner

1st XVIII

The 1st XVIII AFL played Iona at their new ground for the first time in AIC history, and the boys were keen to beat them on their own turf. It was a humid and hot day, but the oval was wet due to recent rain out there, making it a wet weather footy game. 

After a tight tussle in the first quarter that saw us take a 10 point lead, the boys kicked four unanswered goals in the second quarter to take a 30 point lead into the main break. The boys played some excellent footy in the conditions, and our running game was a standout. 

The boys pressed in the second half but unfortunately missed some set shots, and in the end, the final margin was a well-deserved 34 points. The group is starting to gel and play some exciting footy with winners all over the ground, and we're certainly looking forward to the next few weeks! 

Best players were : Thomas Pfitzner, Munroe Wood, Cooper Thomas, Dwayne Ludwick, Mason Houlihan.

Goalkickers were: Dwayne Ludwick 3, Jackson Grounds 2, Jack Urquhart, George Wood, Thomas Pfitzner 1. 

Intermediates (8/9)

A most pleasingly and even team effort following up from last week's tough game. Especially with a fairly wet track early in the morning vs Iona at Coorparoo. 

The slippery ball proved elusive early. After dominating early, Ashgrove kept kicking points while Iona scored a couple of cheap goals. A late spectacular goal on the run by James Milner saw the Eagles only a goal down at the first break. 

The 8/9s dominated the middle quarters via much-improved efforts from William Kazzi, Bailey Scarce, Harry White, Jack Justice, Austin Gillett and Reuben Downes that saw goals coming at regular intervals and they were well supported by the on-ballers and key position players. 

Four quarter performers were Nate Hughes, Jacob Harper, Benjamin Caughley, Thomas Howard, Austin Gillett, Jack Justice, Thomas Williams and Cian Cournane. Kicking five goals out of 8 James Milner was again outstanding (BOG), 1 goal each to Oscar Pittman, Jackson Williams and Harry Kemp.

This four-goal win enables the team to sit equal 2nd on the table now, and our training focus will be to keep the head over the ball and take it at speed in both hands. 

MCA 7A vs Iona

MCA 2-2-14 lost to Iona 2-5-17

Round 5 was a big learning curve for the 7A's. The boys started incredibly well in the first half with much intensity and went into the second half up by two goals. 

However, a loss of structure and a drop in intensity allowed a very capable Iona to capitalise and ultimately win the game by three points. 

A lot to learn from this round in terms of playing out the full game, but their effort cannot be faulted. 

Best Players: Archie Powell, Archie Searle, Lucas Cottam, Patrick Travers and Taj Cook.

Goals: Patrick Travers & Harvey Schulz.

MCA 7B vs St Patrick's

As the buzzer sounded to start the game, it was clear that St Patrick's were a very physical team, making it hard for us to get the ball. A tight first quarter that could have gone either way came out with St Patrick's on top by a couple of goals. As the game continued, MCA consistently was beaten to the footy and was outcompeted by the opposition. Van Sanders and Ollie Reeves stepped up, competing hard with the bigger St Patrick's side, causing more errors and many tackles' turnover. In the third quarter, however, St Patrick's started to pull away and dominate in every aspect of the game. The structure and game plan we had been working on at training fell apart because the boys were put on the back foot by this high-level team. The boys fought until the final siren sounded, and Ollie kicked a goal in the last quarter, which allowed us to finish on a more positive note. The final score was 76-8 in St Patrick's favour.

Cricket

It was another showdown to remember against Iona College, with a few close games unfortunately not going our way. We won 4/12 aggregate games, with our 1st XI narrowly going down by 37 runs. 

1st XVIII

A few words from our 1st XI Coach Mr Tom Gibson: Round 5 was a disappointing trip to Iona. Iona got off to a solid start with the bat, posting 7/199 from their 50 overs. Some of the bowlers performed well in this effort, with wickets to Darcy Lewis (2/20 off five overs), Jacob Kumaru (2/45 off ten overs) and Jesse O'Neil (1/25 off 10 overs).

The chase started off very well with Jakub Bennett (55 off 96 balls), and Jaxon Barwell (39 off 67 balls) fought our way to 1/100 off 25 overs. However, a middle-order collapse allowed Iona to get on top of us, with our reply 162 all out from 43.3 overs. 

10A

Coming off a convincing win the week prior, the 10A boys went into Round 5 positive they could get the job done. Batting first, the boys couldn't get going. All out for 80 after the top and middle-order fell cheaply. Tom Wex and Tom Davies would attempt to steady the ship with 20 and 15, respectively, but it wasn't enough. Iona was too good in the end, reaching the total in 20 overs, three wickets down. Marist fought hard to earn those wickets, but the day belonged to Iona. 

9A

Written by Sam Lewis: Last weekend, the 9A's took on our most challenging game yet against Iona at home. To start the day off at McMahon, MCA won the toss and elected to bat. Our opening batsmen Will Nickelson and Frank Piper, who have been having a cracker of a season, saw off the new ball and allowed the middle order to take control of the game. James Brandon put a solid 20 on the board, and Leo Henry was unlucky getting out on 3. At the back end of the innings, Louis Morris played a crucial innings of 27, with Sam Lewis also getting 15 and Lachy Mccall Getting 10. The MCA team finished with a total of 10/107 of 33.3 overs. This may not look like the biggest total, but McMahon oval has massive boundaries, so this was a very defendable score. IONA came out to bat very confident that they would be able to chase the score, They looked dangerous early as they were 0/22 at the 11 over, but great spells from Sam Lewis 0/9 after seven overs and Sam Wilcox 0/10 after three overs kept the run rate low. Then, strike fast bowler Jack Thompson came into the attack and secured the breakthrough wicket and an excellent spell from Louis Morris, 0/13 of 7 overs to keep the IONA batsmen's pressure. At the halfway point, Iona was 1/41 after 17 overs. This increased the Iona batting side's pressure, which wrestled in great run-outs from Frank Piper and Leo Henry. The pressure increased even more, and the wickets started to fall like rain. Jack Forrester had 1/10 after three overs, Flynn Cleary had 1/14 after four overs, and Will McGauley cleaned up the tail with 3/15 after four overs. IONA ended up with 8/98 after 35 overs, and MCA took home the victory. It was a sweet Atiki in the sheds after beating Iona in a great game.

The Year 9 supplementary competition saw Marist 9E White defeated by Marist 9D Gold. 9Ds lost the toss and were asked to field. Louie Di Lucchio took a wicket with the first ball of the game, alone with three other wickets from the rest of his two overs to finish with figures of 4/7. With Remy's help, he took 2/3 of his overs to bowl the 9Es out for 39 in just 11.3 overs. The 9Ds then managed to post 4/168 from their 20 over though the powerful hitting Liam Bourke 52 off 19(4 sixers), Isaac Pratt 32 off 19 and Max Batherby 27 off 19 to round out a dominate win!

8A

The MCA 8A team looked forward to the chance of playing the number 1 ranked team in the Year 8 competition, IONA. The MCA side was diligent with the ball in hand, as the openers punished any loose delivery. At drinks, the visitors were 0/52 off 15 overs, and the game was in the balance. The week before, the MCA team let the total slip to 131 from an identical position. However, Sebastian Gardiner bowled a brilliant spell in partnership with Kian Dickman to restrict the total to 5/111 to chase. The home side came out with positive intent and looked to counter the clinical visiting bowlers. James Woolaston showed the openers that loose balls will be put away, and good balls will be respected. However, as the openers fell, the pressure mounted and the once simple task of chasing 111 became too much for the boys in blue and gold. MCA being bowled out for 48 in a display they will learn plenty from.

8B

Iona won the bat flip and chose to bat first. The decision looked to be a disaster, with Iona slumping to 3/1 off the first three overs with a great opening spell from George Philp

and captain for the day Ethan Schultz. Iona steadied to be 3/40 at drinks with our bowling becoming a little wayward and allowing too many extras. This wayward bowling continued until the 20th over until we got the breakthrough, and we continued to pick the batters off one by one, with Iona finishing their innings 8/104 off 30 overs.

Marist innings got off to a shaking start with Philp getting out for 1. Ted Clarke's steady at the top of the order-making 11 before spooning one to cover. Cameron McPhee came out swinging at 3 making a score the 20's, and we looked in the box seat at drinks being 2/47, only needing 58 runs off the remaining 15 overs. After drinks, Iona tightened their bowling lines, making it difficult to score and, in the end, this was to our detriment with the game going right down to the wire with Marist needing 12 runs off the final over with Issac Deem and Ethan Schultz at the crease. Unfortunately, as hard as the boys tried, we fell four runs short. It was a great game played in great spirits. How good is cricket!!   

8C

It was a great day out for the 8C with a fabulous win against Iona. With four overs remaining, Iona had four wickets remaining and needed 20 runs for the win. Will Kennedy was the player of the round taking four wickets for four runs off two overs. His spell included a hattrick late, bowling Iona all out for 72. Great job boys!

8D

Ashgrove bowled first and struck quickly, taking three wickets within the first five overs. A resilient knock by the Iona captain pushed the visitors back into contention, and Ashgrove was left chasing a total of 9/110 with rain incoming. Cooper Seeto claimed top bowling honours with 2/13. A shaky start to the batting innings, losing the first wicket for just six runs. The Ashgrove top order put Iona sledging behind them as they combined to score the remaining 105 runs with 11 overs. Open Tim Tully scored 22*, Joe Jackson managed 24 off 16, and Ted Canning smashed 37 off 16, including two 6's. Final score Iona 9/110 def by Ashgrove 3/112.

7A

As a team, we spoke during the week about our commitment to continual improvement, and despite the loss to Padua in the previous game, we were confident we could beat this undefeated Iona team. Sent into bat our boys found it difficult to keep the scoring rate up, but Frank Heenan and Sid Roberts combined for a strong partnership of 37 to help the team reach 7 for 81. Despite some outstanding bowling, the opposition reaching the target with 12 deliveries left in the day. All other teams should take note of the 7A's bowling discipline; with a total of only three wides in 28 overs we came so close to defending a low total. Well done on a brave effort boys. Watch out St Peters, here we come!!

7B

Round 5 of the AIC cricket seasons saw a potentially premiership deciding game for the Ashgrove 7B's against Iona, the only other undefeated team in the competition. Having lost the toss, Ashgrove were sent into bat on a classic hard and flat MCA wicket. After a slow start due to some quality bowling from Iona, Ashgrove managed to creep to 3/101 off 30 overs. Thanks to Leo Morris, who batted the entire innings for 39*, aided by Fletcher Carlson (15) and Jimmy Garden (11). A very tight opening ten overs from Ashgrove took any hope of the run chase away, as the scoreboard pressure saw the visitors lose four wickets to run-outs. They finished all out for 82 runs. Lachlan Nisbett was the pick of the bowlers with 3/9 of 4.4 overs and two direct run-outs. 

7C

One of the best batting performances I have ever seen from an Ashgrove team; the running between wickets was superb – thanks, Mr Harris! All players tried to make a contribution with energetic running and superb calling. Ollie McGauley nearly knocked over one of the Camphor Laurels with his humungous six! At times, our bowling was a bit wayward, which allowed Iona back into the game, but our last few bowlers' cool and calm delivery was the deciding factor. Some incredible fielding from pocket dynamo Harper Frazier kept Iona guessing as did the superb presence of the mind of Luke Ferguson to throw down the wickets when a fielder had been injured. Great leadership from Albie and Isaac helped consolidate a wonderful win.

7D:

An overall outstanding performance for the 7D's. Ashgrove opened the batting with James O'Rielly setting a positive tone and top-scoring with 17, resulting in 7/100 off 20. Although there was a strong opening partnership from Iona, Ashgrove was able to pull it back with excellent all-round fielding and two outstanding performances with the ball from Jackson Skinner (2/1) and Lucas McCabe (2/0), who were both on a hattrick. Iona finished all out for 53. 

Results

AFL Results Round 5

Cricket Results Round 5

Volleyball Results Round 5